UPPER PROVIDENCE — Coming into Friday night’s District One Class AAA quarterfinal game with eighth-seeded Chichester, it would have been no surprise had the Pope John Paul II girls basketball team come out with a little rust in their game.

Two weeks had passed since the Golden Panthers played a game of note, and a flaw here or there could have been expected.

But that wasn’t the case.

Not even close.

The third-seeded Panthers (17-5) used a healthy dose of stifling defense and a 21-5 run to open the game and never looked back en route to a 56-39 victory on their home court.

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“We played great defense to start the game,” said Ellen Chernaskey, who combined with Taylor Bearden to score 12 of those 21 first quarter points. “We had three big stops to start the game off, and Kelly Moore handled the boards well and Lauren (Dao) held onto the ball really well, and we forced their turnovers.

“The past two weeks, we’ve been working really hard on our defense, talking a lot and figuring out where we needed to be on the floor. I just think we played great.”

Panther head coach Dave Baker couldn’t agree more.

“We wanted to make them work hard on both ends of the court,” he said. “If they come down the court and get a shot off, then we’re going to make them work their butts off down on the other end just as hard, and that’s what we did in the first quarter and the first half.

“(The big, early lead) was huge. You set that table right away. You want to make them feel like they’re in your house and everything from that point on is going to be an uphill battle. When we play good defense and we get out in front of you, then it’s going to be a long night.”

With the win, PJP will meet No. 10 Merion Mercy, a 50-30 winner over second-seeded Radnor, at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Plymouth-Whitemarsh.

PJP took a 19-point lead into halftime at 34-15, but Chernaskey quickly widened the gap to start the third quarter, pacing another Panther run, a smaller one at 14-5, with a six-point showing to make it a 48-24 game.

Chichester actually outscored PJP in the fourth quarter, 13-6, but it was too little, too late as the Panthers cruised to the victory.

“We didn’t know much about (the Eagles) coming in, but we knew we just needed to play good defense and the rest would work itself out,” said Bearden, who finished the night with nine points, all coming off 3-pointers in the first two quarters of play. “I think everyone was just feeling it tonight. Our defense was really key.

“It gave us a lot of energy out there.”

Chichester finished the night with three players scoring in double digits with Maddie Thornton leading the way with a 15-point showing, while Haley Sipple added 13 and Logan Newman had 11.